According to a report by Alex Wilde of the Australian ABC Online, Australian researchers say that the rhythmic action of tooth brushing can trigger a rare type of epileptic seizure. Here’s a scoop of the report:
Australian researchers publish details of three people who had a seizure after brushing their teeth in today’s issue of the journal Neurology.
All had identical lesions in the somatosensory cortex of the brain, an area that controls the face, mouth and gums.
The seizures, which were confirmed by video monitoring, occurred when people brushed the sides of their mouths, and caused their faces to jerk and twitch.
One patient salivated vigorously while another couldn’t let go of the toothbrush during the seizure.
Dr Wendyl D’Souza, a neurologist at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and senior lecturer in neuroepidemiology at the University of Melbourne and University of Tasmania, says persistent rhythmic action of tooth brushing stimulates a localised area of the mouth that triggers the seizures.